Making A Literary Life: What If We Didn't Write?

All the talk this week of other arts makes us think of the questionnaire James Lipton offers to his actor guests on Inside the Actors' Studio. Originally created by Bernard Pivot, with some credit apparently due in some measure to Marcel Proust, the questionnaire includes 10 questions that include the following;

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

and

What profession would you not like to do?

And we will add, why?

Lisa Marnell
I would have liked to be a doctor. I would have hated to be a doctor.

I love the idea. I would hate the implemenation of it in real world insurance realities (revolving-door).

Next, a singer. Believe me, if American Idol had auditions for over-thirties I would cue-up ASAP!

Amy MacKinnon
I suppose if I were smart enough I would have been a doctor. The pace, the drama, the purposefulness of it all attracts me. The worst job I've ever had and never want again is that of a waitress. When people have a little power -- customers -- they wield it cruelly.

Hannah Roveto
Beyond the wild-dream professions -- singing, if I had the voice for it, for example -- I always thought being a meteorologist would be fun, tracking weather and predicting it, not necessarily being the one to report on television. Mother Nature is so powerful and fascinating that being closer to a first name basis (Mother? Ma?) would be worth waking up for every day. As to what I wouldn't do, that's hard. There are a lot of difficult jobs (EMT, working with at-risk kids) but those would have rewards to make the challenges with it. Bottom line, anything with tarantulas would be impossible.

Lynne Griffin
Yesterday's post filled you in on my love of dance. I would've loved to be a professional dancer. Yet when choosing a college, even in the late seventies, I was directed toward nursing or teaching. I chose both. I've worked in hospital intensive care units, nursing homes and schools. Jobs I couldn't do? While Hannah loves Mother Nature, I have to say any outdoor work would eventually do me in. Living in New England, winters and summers can be extreme, I wouldn't last long outside in cold or hot temps. And no doubt I'd pull a Lucille Ball if I ever worked in a factory assembly line. Ditto on anything with tarantulas.

Dancing and Writing

Posted by Lynne Griffin

I started my artistic life off as a dancer. Not a Dancing with the Stars kind of dancer, a So You Think You Can Dance kind of dancer. Lyrical, contemporary, jazz and ballet, with some musical theater on the side.

When I was growing up, dancing and dancers were part of everyday life. Variety shows featured big dance numbers, award shows had them too. Before your wedding you brushed off your dance shoes, perhaps you hadn't danced publicly since elementary and middle school dances, where you were taught ballroom.

Growing up in my small town with pretty traditional parents, I'm grateful that art, music, dance and the written word were so well-respected. Neither artistically inclined, my parents supported my love of dance, and books. As surprised as I am that my artistic expression left the dance floor and found the page, I see parallels in these two art forms.

In every novel, capturing mood is essential to story telling. And while some stories are darker than others, taking you to places you dare not go, changing the way you think about things, so can interpretive dance. Some beautiful novels, like dances, are termed quiet, their message simple and beautiful. A novel can inspire a dance. A dance can tell a story.

There's a connection between art forms, as I see it. I'm thrilled to see renewed enthusiasm for dance in our popular culture. It makes me want to take a class. Or create a character who's at home on the stage.

Who doesn't love being the girl on top of the piano?

by Hannah Roveto

A friend sent me a YouTube video yesterday, you know the kind, that has been mass emailed by people all over the world for months and months. In it was footage of tiny Connie Talbot, who came close to winning Britain's Got Talent last year (Simon Cowell's U.K. TV talent competition). Maybe you've seen it, maybe not. I often delete these things, but then again, I check chain emails claiming to serve some altruistic purpose against urbanlegends.com.

I was moved to tears by Connie. I admit to being in a particularly schmaltzy mood these days, but my thoughts afterward reflected more, I hope, than a bad case of over-sentimentality. Three ideas that have made me smile for the past 24 hours:

One: When someone has real talent, it will be noticed. Some creative people ignore the bubbling sound from within, even for years, as the path it leads to might be (a) impractical, (b) insufficient for bill-paying purposes and/or (c) put one in a position to be critiqued and criticized publicly. If you are known around the gray cubicles or in volunteer subcommittees as "the writer," then everyone is telling you something you need to hear and do something about.

Two: If it comes from a pure place, there is power. You can want something with your whole heart, but you have to want it for the right reasons. To be famous is not a reason. To make money is not a reason. To do it because you love to do it, because you do it in your sleep, because you are miserable when you can't do it, now there's a reason. There is a pure place deep inside you, and if you cultivate it -- the trick to it all -- you will succeed.

Three: Sometimes it is better to be older. A postscript on Connie's story, for anyone feeling equally schmaltzy who links to her performance, is that Cowell's record company came back to the Talbots and told them they believe in the future of this little girl, but that she is too young to launch a real career in the music industry. Kudos to them for having the backbone not to turn a six-year-old into immediate paychecks. There were other companies less ethical, but I hope the Talbots heard the full message and understand that bright lights and applause are frosting on a grindingly hard and brutal industry. Sometimes maturity -- of the artist, not those around her or him -- is truly essential equipment in tackling a dream.

Bottom line: If you want to fly over the rainbow, ask yourself, do you have the wings for it? If yes, then do you have the strength for it, or the willingness to build up that strength? And if yes again, well, get out there and fly. Start low but head high. You don't ever be the one to be stuck on the ground at the end of the day wondering why, then, oh why, didn't I.

The Dedication

By Amy MacKinnon

Some who have read Tethered comment that it's dark, it's subject matter "creepy." Others say they'll never read it because it involves the death of child. I understand, I do. I might not read such a story myself. It was years before I reached for The Lovely Bones and now it's one of my favorites. It took all the resolve I had to read through that first chapter when Suzy (last name Salmon, like the fish) was brutalized. But those of us who've read it were granted a reprieve, actually Suzy was, with the ending. And with the writing.

My novel, Tethered is dedicated to Erica Michelle Marie Green. I first heard about her on NPR while driving home. It stunned me. How could a child be discarded? How? I'd already written the first chapter of what I thought was a short story, but after listening to that NPR segment, I knew it had to be a novel that included Precious Doe and others like her. It's not an exact retelling of her story at all, but the way in which she was found is similar. When I started researching cases, I went to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. There I found page after page of children who had been discarded in similar fashion over the years. Far, far too many.

So for those of you who can't read Tethered, I understand, it's difficult to know about the lives of forgotten children. But you can't ignore them either by pretending they don't exist.

The reason I write

Posted by Lisa Marnell

When I was twelve, I read the book, Night of the Red Horse, by Patricia Leitch. I am reading it now. I continue to be awed by this work of fiction, and wholeheartedly inspired by this author.

Last night, after I FINALLY put this book down, three-quarters of the way through, I wondered what it was about this story that made it so fantastic. I got it! I figured it out. This novel is a delight – terrifyingly so – because of two things:

Setting and Suspense.

I googled Patricia Leitch and found the following:

Patricia Leitch born 13 July, 1933, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, is a Scottish writer, best known for her series of children's books about Jinny Manders and her wild, traumatised Arabian horse Shantih, set in the Scottish Highlands. The 12 books in the Jinny series were published between 1976 and 1988 by Armada.

I felt like a detective as I thought about Patricia Leitch. She was between 43 and 55 when this series was published. I was lucky, I suppose. I was between 7 and 19 when she wrote them. I WAS her audience. She never met me. I doubt she ever will. But I can say with absolute certainty that she changed my life, and I don’t mean because she inspired me to write, (which she did), but because she let me hope that there are places I want to go to. There are adventures waiting for me in the years to follow. And, maybe, there’s a touch of magic out there.

As I continued to read about Patricia Leitch, my heart sank as I read this line:

The Ginny at Finmory series is currently out of print.

I suppose I was lucky. Tweens and teens today would love these books. I read on:

The Jinny series marks a significant departure from the traditional 'tweedy' horse and pony stories aimed at middle-class children. Jinny is a scruffy, willful, tom-boyish girl who doesn't have any social or romantic aspirations. Serious social justice issues are raised throughout the series, forcing Jinny to confront her own prejudices and character faults.

Underlying the series is a sense of predestination deriving from Celtic mythology. Jinny is portrayed as a gifted or chosen child with special and dangerous tasks to perform, guided by mysterious and sometimes frightening characters such as the Red Horse (agent of the Celtic Horse Goddess Epona) and the Walker. In this way it resembles the Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper.

Thank you, Patricia, for writing all of your wonderful books. This forty-year-old wanna-be writer is forever grateful and the twelve-year-old girl somewhere inside me has seen the world differently because of you.

Happy Fathers Day

Here's a story about mine and hope you'll share about yours.

Making a Literary Life: Who Inspires You?

This week, a couple of us at the Writers' Group shared how musicians inspire us. In their talent, drive and heart, they show us how they followed their dream. This week, we want to share how others - non-writers - inspire us. Tell us who inspires you.

Lisa Marnell
For me, it has to be athletes, and it barely matters what sport it is. In the last winter Olympics, there was a Russian skater whose story brought me to tears. And what about Justine Henning, the champion tennis player from Belgium who recently retired. When she was fourteen she went to a tennis match with her mom and promised her mom that she would play at that level some day. Her mom never lived to see Justine win a Grand Slam.

Amy MacKinnon
John Walsh inspires me. When his son Adam was abducted and later found ed, Mr. Walsh didn't crumble they way most of us would. Instead, he gathered whatever reserves he had and devoted his life to helping abused children by co-founding the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and producing and hosting America's Most Wanted. One man, one man shouldering the most excruciating burden, and he has helped change the world for thousands of people.

Hannah Roveto
I am most inspired by regular people who rise above whatever is going on in their lives with integrity, dignity and compassion. Friends, neighbors, relatives. Randy Pausch, the professor who has become famous for his Last Lecture is inspirational, and not for the reasons you might think at first. He was a regular guy handling everyday adversity with strength and humor at inspirational levels, only few people knew that. His diagnosis put him in the spotlight; certainly, he continues to deal with the most difficult hand that can be dealt with grace. However, it's his successes along the way, showing how a can-do approach and sense of humor deliver real rewards, that is his most inspirational -- and generous -- message to other everyday people. He shows us how to take what we get and get what we need: joy.

Lynne Griffin
I was surprised when this topic left me bewildered. It wasn't easy to come up with a person or group of people who inspire me. Certainly there's the parent I've been working with, who has two children with special needs; I admire her patience and fortitude. There's the gifted teacher I met fifteen years ago and will never forget; she knows just how to motivate each and every student who walks into her classroom. I thought about my own parents, grandparents, & friends. But I just couldn't come up with one person. It seems I draw my inspiration from ordinary people doing extraordinary things. The people who live the paradoxical commandments. People who, in the face of insurmountable challenges, persevere anyway.

Pitches, Pens, and Preferences

Posted by Lynne Griffin

Musing on the posts this week on capturing your story in a pitch, being true to yourself as an artist, and preferred work habits, I saw a theme, a common thread. Everything comes down to a matter of taste.

You can write the snazziest pitch ever, but if one of the main characters is a ghost, a cowboy, or a dog, I probably won't be stepping up to the register to plunk down my debit card for a hardcover. Now I'm not saying there's anything wrong with ghosts, cowboys or dogs, I'm just not that into them, so I rarely choose to read stories about them.

I enjoyed reading Amy's post about Alicia Keys's philanthropic work, and I admire her integrity as an artist. But I don't particularly care for the kind of music she sings. This is more my style.

Quality pens and fine paper are marvelous for writing charming notes, leaving messages for family, or thanking supportive friends, and I love a beautiful journal, but I prefer to write fiction on a computer. (I agree whole-heartedly with Hannah about the frustrations of working with technology.)

Before you write to convince me I should love cowboys, R & B, and writing long hand, consider your own preferences. I'm not terribly stubborn about mine, but I accept them. It doesn't mean I can't be swayed to read something I ordinarily wouldn't, when it's suggested to me by a reader I respect.**

It's merely an issue of preference. In my opinion, if all writers and readers were identical, there would be no art. There wouldn't be any reason to discuss literature; we wouldn't bother to read to think or learn new ways of seeing the world. Here's the thing--I know some people will love my novel and some won't. I can long for stellar reviews and a wildfire of word-of-mouth, but at the end of the day, I know some won't connect with my artistry. I hope reviewers will get what I tried to accomplish, and of course, I want them to recommend it. I'd love to hear readers tell other readers LIFE WITHOUT SUMMER is a must read. Yet just as I have preferences, I need to respect the preferences of readers, knowing my novel isn't for everyone.

Here's another of my preferences: I chose to be positive. I'm not expending a lot of energy on those who won't care for my kind of story. Instead I'm doing my best to connect with readers looking for upmarket fiction about family, forgiveness and the struggle to find hope in healing. My marketing and publicity efforts are targeted and crafted to find my readers. People who want what I have to offer. I know they're out there. It's my job to find them.

**Novels I love about ghosts:
Portrait of Jennie by Robert Nathan
Eva Moves the Furniture by Margot Livesey

**Novels I love about cowboys:
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid by William Goldman

**Novels I love about dogs:
Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst
Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight

The Pen is Mightiest

by Hannah Roveto

For anyone excited to read a review of powerful writing that seeks to correct wrongs and fight injustice, my apologies. I like that idea, perhaps a kernel for a future post, but that's not what's got me going. Instead, come with me to a modest gray-shingled Cape a short walk from the ocean, emerald grass across its front lawn, catbirds mocking each other in the trees.

Our Writer sits at her computer, iced coffee in hand. The morning is warm, the silence promising. She turns on the computer, excited about having created two hours to fill with ideas and poetry. Or at least, a last round of revision.

"Fatal execution error."

(Dear reader: Fill in this blank with the word of your choice.)

"Press okay if you want to continue." Does she? Sure, why not. A large message screen pops up, threatening to eliminate all that lies behind the glass. "Continue" is still an option, teases the computer. Our Writer does want to continue, but knows this is a trick question.

What the heck. Nothing bad happens, although the Internet connection doesn't work, which is fine as the antivirus software is sending a warning to the screen every two minutes saying it is shut off and can't go back on. A quick call to the boss means there may be even more time to write, as no emails will get through, no research can be done.

Our Writer turns off the computer, prostrating herself before the Muse for inspiring her to back up the WIP a day earlier, an infrequent occurence. She pulls out... a pad of paper and a pen. Our Writer heads down the hall to curl up on the sofa, coffee moved to still be within reach. She goes through the outline of her manuscript and notes she has made as to small changes that need to be made. Over two days, as the Dell is nursed back to reasonable health, pages of lined paper covered with blue ink are written over in black ink, red ink, pencil, until everything from dozens of scraps of paper are all compiled into one source. The result is satisfying; a feeling of accomplishment and preparedness makes Our Writer woozy with delight.

In fact, those two days of pen and paper leave a fond memory that almost overshadows the frustration with technology. The feel of pen in hand, the smooth hush of paper, the corner of the sofa with its soft pillows. She thinks of authors who write everything longhand the first round; could that be a possibility for the next project? Perhaps. For the pen is not only mightier than the sword, it has proven itself mightier than the computer. And these days, that is saying a great deal.

Alicia Keys UPDATE

By Amy MacKinnon

I just heard from Alicia Key's publicist. Look at what she's doing now. She is one powerful woman.

Freedom to Fall

By Amy MacKinnon

Any Alicia Keys fans in the house? She's my girl. A musical savant, but even more, a philosopher.
Sarah Rodman, one of my favorite music critics, had an awe-inspiring, hit-me-upside-the-head, everyone-needs-to-read-this kind of interview with Alicia Keys in this past Friday's Boston Globe.

"Everything's not always going to be perfect or exactly the way you wished it was going to be, and the way that you handle that is what shows the growth you're going to have," says an upbeat Keys from New Orleans.

Now sit back a minute and read that paragraph a second time. Going to have. Now that's forward thinking. This coming from a 27-year-old woman. Ready for more?

"...the one thing I really want above all is to feel proud of the choices I made. And I also want to feel if I made any bad choices that I was able to learn from them."

Alicia Keys is telling you, me, the world, and most important of all, herself, that it's okay to fail. She is saying choose wisely, but if you don't, that's okay, learn from it and keep moving forward.

We know this already, don't we? We know that our failures teach us more than our successes. We know as writers, we will be faced with rejections, criticisms, acid-tongued Amazon reviewers. But we forget, too. In the moment, when faced with it, we can feel only the sting of the fall and forget it's a journey of a thousand steps this life we chose. We'll all fall, some of us spectacularly, others in silent torment. Just remember when you do fail -- and you will -- you tripped in the footsteps of those who went before you -- and they kept going. Will you?

Just watch her go.

In a few words...

Posted by Lisa Marnell

It may be the toughest couple of sentences you ever write – and it won’t be fun, at first. But it’s crucial. That all-important, difficult to write, answer to the dreaded auestion: “So, what’s your story about.”

Once, in writer’s group, we talked about theme. One of our members spoke with such confidence saying, “How could someone try to write a book without knowing the theme ahead of time.”

Oops!

I didn’t admit it at the time, but I wasn’t sure what my book was about. I am in a better position now, but that’s only after a painful conversation with a close friend, explaining my story and asking this person to read a couple pitch lines. It didn’t go well. As we talked more, after I explained the plot and the ending, this friend said, "Hey, your story is about friendship, between a rich girl and a poor girl." Light bulb moment.

Pitch and theme go hand in hand. To have a story, I believe you need a theme. Internal struggle, such as in the novel I am reading, Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld, has the enticing eye-catcher on the back of the book: "Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?" Good, isn't it?

Being able to write a short pitch sentence or two help me, now, as I struggle to finish my WIP. Also, it's a must-have for a conversation with an editor.

I went to my trusty Verla Kay website to search for some thoughts on the topic. I wasn't disappointed.

Take a look at this to see some winning pitches, taken from a contest for winnning pitches.

Here's a pretty amazing "how-to" for writing a premise.

try, now, to write a pitch. It's a pleasure-pain thing, but it will help your story.

Brava, Kristy Kiernan!

Author of Catching Genius and now Matters of Faith, friend of the blog Kristy Kiernan has just received this *glowing* review from Publishers Weekly. Sounds like the perfect pick for summer and your book club.

Matters of Faith Kristy Kiernan. Berkley, $14 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-425-22179-2

In this tense, well-paced novel about belief, Kiernan explores what happens when faith and love test the limits of family fealty. In southwest Florida, college student Marshall Tobias is in search of something to believe in. He thinks he’s found God and the woman he’s always dreamed of when he falls in love with fundamentalist believer Ada Sparks. But Ada’s against medical intervention for illness, and tragedy results when she sets out to “help” Marshall’s 12-year-old sister, Meghan, overcome her life-threatening allergies. Switching points-of-view between Marshall and his mother, Chloe, Kiernan (Catching Genius) movingly portrays a 20-year-old marriage gone flat and torn apart by crisis, a troubled son, a daughter hovering between life and death, and the hard-to-discern boundaries between true faith and unhealthy fanaticism. She handles her difficult material respectfully. Most interesting is her portrayal of the well-meaning traps parents fall into when encouraging open-ended exploration of faith without context, or choosing to remain silent. The thoughtful themes, interesting characters and page-turning drama of this novel will likely make it a book club favorite. (Aug.)

Making a Literary Life Friday: Pssst!

What are you hearing about the goings on in the book world? Good stuff? What books of summer are you excited about and can't wait to buzzzzzz? We here at the Writers' Group have some picks of our own and we want to hear yours.

Lisa Marnell
It's YA central for me! Now that I'm nearly finished Uglies by Scott Westerfeld - it's an amazing tale - I'll be reading the sequel, Pretties, soon. Then Peeps, Midnighters, gosh he's prolific!

Next, I can't wait to start The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan. I've heard nothing but wonderful praise for this series about a boy who confronts the Greek gods and godesses.

Amy MacKinnon
There are a few books I need to read this summer: Patry's pick Andrew Davidson's The Gargoyle, I Still Have It, I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It by Rita Rudner because she me up; and I need to get my hands on a galley of Dennis Lehane's The Given Day, that will be my mission this weekend.

Thanks to Carleen Brice, author of Orange Mint & Honey, for taking this photo of Tethered at Book Expo America 2008. A dream come true.

Hannah Roveto
What's new? Scott Heim (We Disappear), Mameve Medwed (Of Men and Their Mothers) and Margot Livesey (The House on Fortune Street) are out and about promoting their books, all of which I highly recommend. They are completely different from each other, so you can move from one to the other without pause and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. At the moment Stephen L. Carter's New England White is being toted everywhere I go, as I am compelled to pack even five minutes in when I can to find out how this unravels! Books on my to-read list this summer include Cynthia Ozick's Dictation, Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth, the posthumous publication by Grace Paley, Fidelity, Gil Adamson's The Outlander, and natch, Tethered. The group saw the last draft of that months ago, and Amy has been teasing us with hints as to what changed across the editing process since. Cannot, cannot wait!

For you quick readers in need of even more suggestions, get Hallie Ephron's 1001 Books for Every Mood. Come on, you can't have read all 1,001 yet, can you? Just a few of the moods listed: Soar, Join the Circus, Blame Your Genes, and Celebrate Friends; this book will be well-thumbed, a good friend with tips on great reads for a long time to come.

Lynne Griffin
Now that my daughter is home from college, the Griffin summer reading challenge is on. Each with our own personal goal and list of must-reads, we read and discuss and recommend books galore. So far the books Caitlin and I have discussed over tea include, March, by Geraldine Brooks, Charity Girl, by Michael Lowenthal and Peace Like a River by Leif Engler (his latest So Brave, Young and Handsome is on my to be read list) .

Others on my to be read shelf include: Away by Amy Bloom, Belong to Me, Marisa des los Santos, The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz.

And here's some book industry news--my daughter got a summer job at our local independent, The Front Street Bookshop. Bookloving runs in the family and she and I wonder if she'll ever come home with a paycheck.

And speaking of the Front Street Bookshop--Hallie Ephron will be there next Friday, June 13 at 7 PM, to talk about 1001 Books for Every Mood. Come see us there.

Where the Story Comes Alive

Posted by Lynne Griffin

Last week I finished a first draft of my second novel. Two days after writing the last line, I turned to the first chapter. I had planned to give the whole draft a rest, but about month or so ago, I read that Joyce Carol Oates writes the last chapter and the first chapter of her works-in-progress simultaneously, to ensure consistency of voice. I'm no Joyce, but I thought it made sense--knowing what I now know about my story ending--to plunge right into revision.

Many months ago, when my dear friends at the Writers' Group read my opening chapter, each member questioned whether or not the first chapter really was the first chapter. Guess what? It may have been the means by which I propelled my novel forward, getting words on the blank page, but once there was a full draft, one where major story lines were revealed and character transformations set down, it was clear to me it wasn't the true beginning of the story.

In previous posts, first drafts have been referred to as the journey of discovery draft. The first draft has also been compared to sculpting, while subsequent drafts compared to painting. At this year's Muse and the Marketplace conference, Lisa and I attended a brilliant workshop on revision given by Karl Iagnemma. By giving participants three versions of one of his fantastic short stories, Karl showed us his process, one he likens to using different types of sandpaper, as a framework for revision. He suggests beginning revisions on the broadest story level, then moving on to the scene level. Finally revising paragraphs, sentences, and words.

Hallie Ephron, in her terrific book, Writing and Selling your Mystery Novel, talks about flying high, what she calls big picture revision, and flying low, the little particulars in need of refinement.

The way I see it, there are three levels of work to be done in revision:

1. Reworking--This is the work of wholesale retooling of a part of the story.
   
2. Rewriting--Perhaps a chapter is partially moving the story forward, or exposing some of what readers need at a particular point in the story, but portions or parts need to be rewritten.
3. Refining--This is the final polishing that every manuscript needs. Though it's tempting to skip this step, either because of exhaustion related to 1 & 2 or belief that you've done all you can do to tell the story, this step makes all the difference in getting an agent's or editor's attention.

So I'm off to rewrite and refine my work-in-progress. Does anyone else have a model they use for the revision process. While some find it a daunting task, I think this is where the real magic of story telling happens. This is where the story comes alive.

The Gift of Time

by Hannah Roveto

My birthday came and went recently, accompanied by homemade cards hidden (surprise!) as usual under my placemat at breakfast, flowers from my husband, a cake from the supermarket chosen for maximum lusciousness by my chocoholic daughter, and dinner out a week later alone with my husband courtesy of my parents (during which said daughter did call to report what she'd done all day with Grandma and Grandpa before being put to bed at their house).

A special present is yet to come.

I sat my kids down and told them not what I want, but what I need most from them as we head into summer. I, too, am ready for less stress, later starting times to the day, a regular check on the quality and service at Dairy Twist, the smell of suntan lotion and bug spray and chlorine and sweat. I am not ready, or willing, or able, to lose Writer Time.

My manuscript will be in the hands of the group by month's end and barring fatal flaws, sent to agents soon thereafter. Thus, is the pressure off? Not a chance. I will still need to edit and polish, finalize my query letter, work at the back-office end of getting it ready and out the door.

Even when that happens, there is still no rest -- nor am I weary, in the least! Summer hits right as my WTBIN (Work-To-Be-In-Progress) screams into my ear, having waited patiently over the past several months for focused attention. Now is literally its time in the sun, and it and I cannot wait.

I explained to my kids that summer will run more smoothly for all if Mommy has Time. I need them to do a little more around the house. I need them to respect when I am on the phone and computer, and not just when I'm doing paid work (for which I have a separate but overlapping strategy to make time to do). Bottom line, however, is that Mommy on computer or sitting in corner with notebook plus quiet (low volume?) equals Mommy back to you faster -- and happier.

I will do my share. I've bought bottles of bubbles (for her) and new outdoor toys (for both). My son the videographer has a new greenscreen downstairs (Wal-Mart Arugula paint on a drop cloth). The promise of time at StarLand to play mini-golf and whatever else strikes their fancies awaits as a reward.

So, to follow on the themes of Drive and Tenacity and Moms Who Write, any other tips for creating Writer Time during the summer months? For giving oneself and persuading others to give you the Gift of Time? Bring 'em on!

Moms Who Write

By Amy MacKinnon

I love this Boston Globe article -- no, not because both Lynne and I are featured -- but because it strikes at the heart of what it is you and I are trying to do: write. We will write no matter the barriers, no matter the external pressures, no matter the doubt. We will write.

Thanks to Grub Street for letting us have the photo taken there. If you've read the article, now you understand why I'm a proud Grubbie.

All In Due Course

Posted by Lisa Marnell

To think about on this Monday...

Below is a scene from page 236 (paperback) of The Secret Life of Bees, when Lily finds out that August knew Lily’s mother. It doesn’t matter if you’ve read the book or not – though you should. This is important because it might make sense to you in the same way it makes sense to me, namely...

Writing has its own timeline.

So the passage goes...

“How come you didn’t tell me?”

“Because you weren’t ready to know… I didn’t want to risk you running away again. I wanted you to have a chance to get yourself on solid ground, get your heart bolstered up first. There’s a fullness of time for things, Lily. You have to know when to prod and when to be quiet, when to let things take their course. That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

That's what I've been trying to do as well.

I wonder, sometimes, if other artisits have the uncertainty writers do. Singers, certainly, struggle in a similar manner to fiction writer wannabes. Many people can carry a tune, have decent range, and simply love to sing in the shower. But it's not these individuals who "make it" to the big time. It's those singers in smokey pubs who oftentimes aren't heard above the din of mindless babble. You have to love to sing.

The more I write, the more I try to write fiction, the more I believe you don't need talent so much as drive and tenacity. It isn't easy. But it isn't boring either.

Making a Literary Life Friday: Slap Dash Dishing

Allison Winn Scotch sold the movie rights to her yet-to-be released novel, Time of My Life. Jennifer McMahon's novel, Island of Lost Girls is a New York Times bestseller. Tish Cohen sold television rights to her middle grade novel The Invisible Rules of the Zoe Lama. Brava to all!

Okay, okay, so we all don't have that kind of news to share -- yet -- but something good must have happened in our literary lives this week. Maybe we wrote a magnificent sentence or our protagonist's most important relationship became crystalline or we can feel the mojo when we sit down to write, you know, that elusive flow. Whatever your good news is, we want to celebrate with you.

Lisa Marnell
My WIP finally makes sense. Odd revelation, perhaps, but there you have it. I'm thrilled!

Amy MacKinnon
I deleted two chapters from my WIP that completely stalled the flow and now I know where I'm going. What an enormous relief. Also, TETHERED is at BEA this weekend (in the light box? which I hear is a good thing) and now I'm waiting for feedback. If anyone reading this is there in LA and is kind enough to snap a picture of the Crown table with my book there, I would be eternally grateful.

Hannah Roveto
The end is in sight, is all I can say. I know the Group will have comments, but the ticket to agent city is dropping from the air like a feather over my head, wafting this way and that, most important, ever-downward. I can see it, just about reach up and grab it. Time to both polish my writing and to review that Dream Agent List I made months ago. (Wasn't there a useful post this week on that very subject?!)

Lynne Griffin
I finished a first draft of my second novel, and then, knowing the story in its entirety, I reworked the first chapter. Now the work of revising and rewriting begins. I love this part of the process. More on a great model for revision in next week's post.

As for LIFE WITHOUT SUMMER, I got to see the proposed interior design this week. What a rush it is to see my words formatted in book layout. It starts to make the whole thing real.

Agent City

Posted by Lynne Griffin

It's been a while since I wrote anything about taking the illustrious trip to the place we here at the writers' group fondly call, agent city. A place you dare not go, but must, if you are to be published with any of the big six. Certainly searching out the right agent for you is no easy task, but a recent article by Paige Wheeler on the terrific new blog hosted by agents at Folio Literary Management reminded me it all comes down to communication.

I have a secret. I had an agent before I landed my dream agent. I won't say who, but suffice it to say, we didn't work out. I was naive and held her up on a pedestal. Two years and two projects later, I still trembled when I dialed the phone to ask her where my manuscript was, where it stood, was it viable?

To her credit, she got me into a total of five editorial meetings. Though even with strong interest from the publisher, which included editor phone meetings, she couldn't seal the deal. Believe it or not, I wanted to think it was me. Maybe my parenting book was too optimistic, too saccharin. What was my hook? Where was my platform? If it was something I lacked, I could fix it. I would rewrite, rework, retool.

Then I went to New York for business and orchestrated a dinner meeting. I finally met my agent face-to-face. Our conversation was awkward, stilted and when I walked out of The Tavern Jane, I didn't feel any better having met her. I didn't feel she could speak to my work, my writing, my passion. It occurred to me that if I felt this way, then of course editors would too. Two weeks later, I sent a certified letter informing her it was time to part company. In a way, I was thankful we hadn't landed a deal, because we would've been tied to each other for the life of a book.

Clean slate. A wealth of possibilities. I was afraid. Wasn't an agent on the phone, worth hundreds on the Internet? Amy, Lisa and Hannah bolstered me; they agreed, I should trust my instincts. My husband loved my new spin on my nonfiction proposal; my champion urged me to move forward.

When a sixty page proposal and three sample chapters were done, I started my list. You know, the one you compile after spending hours perusing Publishers Marketplace, AgentQuery.com and every other site you can find sharing agent details, like who represents what you write and who has a record of selling projects like yours. I had eight on my list. All accepted e-queries. I was tired of waiting.

My fastest response time was four minutes. I sent my query on a Saturday, and said agent was getting caught up on email. My slowest response time? The clock is still ticking on one agent, and I sent my queries out back in February 2006. In short order, I had six requests for fulls. One week later I'd scheduled four face-to-face meetings--yes, I went to New York. I refused to sign again with someone I hadn't met and didn't have a real feel for, as a professional and as a person. Four offers of representation later, I made an agreement with my present agent. She bowled me over then, and the truth is she still does, with the way she conducts business and how much she cares about my career.

The reason our relationship works is because we communicate regularly. Everything from manuscript feedback sessions, to cursory emails sharing news. I never call her unless it's important, but I keep her updated with things on my end, whenever there's something noteworthy to share. She understands my career goals, and the kind of writer I want to be. She neither pushes trends on me, nor does she tell me my work is fantastic, when it isn't. She holds me to a bar as high or higher than the one I've set for myself.

I have no delusions that our relationship will last a lifetime--though in all honesty, I hope it does. What matters, for me, is that our goals remain compatible, our communication remain open, honesty and frequent, and that we continue to see eye-to-eye on the trajectory of my career.

If you're preparing for a trip to agent city, be sure you know what you're looking for. Last year, the wonderful Eve Bridburg, founder of Grub Street and an agent at the marvelous Zachary, Schuster and Harmsworth shared her thoughts about connecting with agents.

My best advice is to do your homework; read, read, read. And when you're absolutely sure you're ready, take the trip. Be true to yourself, and you'll get there.

Final Stretch

by Hannah Roveto

Really, truly. I know how grateful you are that my posts do not consist of progress reports: I'm editing. I'm revising. Still revising. Yup, editing. Still, I have to tell you this week, I believe myself to be in the final stretch. How do I know?

Tess Gerritsen did a post a year ago on her revision process. Of all the interviews and posts ever written on this topic, this one I saved. Every so often, I find it, scan it, compare my progress against her words. As I did just last week:

First, make the plot hang together. Make the story's set up match the story's resolution. I have gone back over my own WIP, and made sure it all connects. As character motives shifted, so did plot, and I had to go back through and redo quite a bit. You'd think after two (much-worked-over) drafts, I'd have known them, but sometimes three's the charm, apparently (or four, five...)!

Second, refine and deepen the characters. With those crystallized character motives have come insights into behavior that change first appearances on the page to small quirks in certain situations. Check, again.

Third, heighten the poetry. Gerritsen notes that some people think fiction -- and mystery -- is not in need of poetry. For the record, even humorous fiction is all the better for a little poetry in its presentation.

Fourth, clean up all the inconsistencies. Funny how my antagonist's last name was one thing at the start, something else halfway through. Did he meet with the old woman in March or April? Appearance details, timelines, everything has been doublechecked.

Fifth, reorder the scenes to heighten the tension. Gerritsen writes each subplot start to finish, then weaves them together in the second or third draft. I don't, although maybe it would have streamlined my progress, who's to know? Still, I have done exactly that, shifting scenes so the characters are shown a certain way at key points and the plot is pushed to (I hope!) up the stakes.

Sixth, figure out chapter breaks. I thought I had, but going back through now, I am realizing they are not where they should be. Thus, I am merging a couple of chapters together and considering breaking one apart. After that, well, I'm feeling quite good about it!

Certainly I'm not relying solely on Tess' words to measure how far along I have come. It struck me, though, this time when I found the post and read through, I was able to check each piece off. Tasks one through five: done; task six, on its way. As am I, I believe, at last. So let me toss this out, to those of you revising Novel One, or Novel Three, or Novel Five, do these steps ring true for you as well? Any others would you add? I am all ears!

Out There

By Amy MacKinnon

I wonder if it's too late.

Galleys have gone out for review, been sent to booksellers for ordering, to friends and family to read. I want to pull them all back, re-pack them in their cardboard boxes and hide them away from curious minds. People will talk. They'll have opinions and thoughts -- not all of them positive -- about the story, the writing, me. Soon, very soon, the book and I will be judged.

Not everyone will be kind, though some will fall to the other extreme. I won't know everyone's motives. Reviews on Amazon and other sites will be precipitated by friendship, animosity, or true conviction. I won't always be able to tell the difference. Labels of mediocrity will sting worst of all. I despise average.

It's never bothered me to be judged by the way I look, my actions, gender, politics, my parenting, address, or religion. I don't generally care. I've been regarded as fat, ugly, poor, stupid, and cruel, all of which have been true at different points in my life. That's fine, I can accept those critiques just fine. I have been laid bare in my most primal state before a room filled with curious residents and not blinked. Childbirth is humbling that way. But to have my book reviewed publicly will be the most disconcerting experience of all.

I want to be the person who walks into the wind upright and steadfast. I want to be Teflon. I want to be above the fray of the naysayers and uglies. I want to be fierce. And I am. Much like Achilles on the battlefield, I am strong and sure for the most part, but this book of mine is my sweet, soft heel.

So how to cope?

Details

Posted by Lisa Marnell

A teacher friend of mine in Massachusetts gave this essay to me at the end of last year (thanks, Kim). I wanted to share this writing with you because of the details. Good details make good writing. The writing below is beautiful.

I Hope That - By Paul Harvey

We have tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I’d like better. I’d really like them to know about hand-me-down clothes and home-made ice cream and leftover meatloaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated. I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope that nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with a younger brother or sister. And it is alright if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he is scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little sister wants to tag along, I hope you let her. I hope that you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don’t ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won’t be seen riding with someone as uncool as your mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope that you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what Ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I sure hope you take the time to sit on a porch with your grandfather and go fishing with your uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope that your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through a neighbor’s window and that she hugs and kisses you when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you: tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it is the only way to appreciate life.

Making A Literary Life Friday: Passages

Most people join or create writers' groups when we are ready for work to be critiqued; there is a sense that outside hands can push us along the path we have chosen a little faster than we might get there on our own. A side benefit to a writers' group, however, is learning from reading other work critically, watching how a passage, a page, or an entire story shifts as the writer explores new territory, then deepens and strengthens it.

As stronger readers, we then take even greater delight in a phrase or a passage that stops us cold for all the right reasons, when we have to pause simply to appreciate the gorgeous simplicity of a story well told. Here are a few bits that have struck us most of late.

Lisa Marnell
I'm drawing from an old read, I was looking at recently: Sarah Dunant's novel, The Birth of Venus.

"It wasn't as if Florence didn't have artists enough of her own. The city was filled with the smell of paint and the scratch of ink on the contracts. There were times when you couldn't walk the streets for fear of falling into some pit or mire left by constant building."

Amy MacKinnon
Ian McEwan's ATONEMENT is a favorite novel. This line is among the most memorable, the most gorgeous I've ever read:

"Another mole, the size of a farthling on her thigh and something purplish on her calf -- a strawberry mark, a scar. Not blemishes. Adornments."

Hannah Roveto
Scott Heim's We Disappear is stunning. In this particular paragraph, Heim captures mood, pace and scene in three simple sentences as two people hesitate, and I love the use of dissolve:

"She closed her eyes, pausing to arrange the memories. The TV's light wavered sleepily over her face; from outside, the echo of a church bell, reminding me of the bell above the Haven Cafe door, and of Mr. Wyler, weeping soundlessly at his booth. I listened as the low tolling dissolved and the town went silent."

Lynne Griffin
Ronlyn Domingue's, Mercy of Thin Air is a elegant as her novel's title. This book is rich in everything that matters. Character, plot, setting--and prose. Here is the first lovely passage I came to by merely opening the novel and pointing to a page.

"Andrew's essence drew outward, then stalled. The particles suspended in a dense concentration of cold, still air. I held the salty tinge within me for the length of a breath, before anything more could make an escape, before I could on the question, What happened to him?"

On a side note, Ronlyn is a generous writer who's written some advice well worth reading. Check out her website.

Turn Things on Their Head

Posted by Lynne Griffin

A few days ago, a very creative friend of mine wondered out loud if she were innately imaginative enough to write a rich and compelling novel. I was first struck by how preposterous this musing was, since she's extremely inventive. Later, this thought intrigued me: should any writer rest on his or her God-given gifts of imagination and inspiration, or is every writer equally responsible for the search to find the thing that sets the break and tumble wave of creativity in motion?

Maybe there's a picture or poem that introduces you to an interesting character. The picture to the right is one of my parents in the early days of their courtship. I started a story inspired by their love affair, and it became something entirely different. I'm indebted to them, and to this photograph for planting the seed.

Or perhaps you've read or heard a news story so unbelievable you have to understand why things unfolded the way they did, or rewrite the ending.

As I write this, I have a copy of Anne Halpin's breathtaking book, Seascape Gardening on my desk. It's been sitting there since I received it as a birthday gift. The setting of my work-in-progress is laid out all over its pages, as if Ms. Halpin collected the Roger Foley images and wrote the commentary, specifically for me.

In writing, there are many well known taglines. Show, don’t tell. Write what you know. Allow yourself the shitty first draft. But like the idea of waiting on the Muse, to each of these there's a flip side.

Tell and show.
There are times when telling is the right thing to do. At the beginning of chapters, to let the reader know time has past, or in making the perfect transition, keeping the pace of the novel swift and the plot moving forward. I don't worry, in early drafts, if there's a little too much tell. I know adding show will be the work of revision. And a side note here--Jennifer Haigh wrote her first novel in sixty pages. In revision, she fleshed the entire story out. I imagine there was a lot of telling in the early draft.

Write what you don't know.
For me, inspiration is often found in learning something new. Research can be energizing. Choosing a character's occupation or fascination opens doors to all kinds of things that can provide inspiration and motivation. Why not try to write what you don't know?

Allow yourself a glorious first draft.
Perhaps there are days, weeks, or even novels that require one to write slowly, critiquing every word set down on the page. What a difference it might make to scrutinize each word choice, making every one count.

To a degree--though I may adjust the percentages a bit--I share Thomas Edison's thinking on achieving your goals. He said, success is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. Friend of our blog Larramie wrote a beautiful sentiment, last year about this time. I love it so much I'll share it here. She wrote, Summer is a season of indulgences. Mine just happens to be writing.

So my advice to writers, at the beginning of this Memorial Day weekend, is to go out and turn traditional ideas about writing on their head. You may just find the inspiration you've been looking for.

A Rising Tide

by Hannah Roveto

A short article in the Wall Street Journal last week caught my eye: Penguin Hires Pair to Lift Children's Unit. Don Weisberg, former president of Random House Sales, was named president of Penguin Young Readers Group. Barbara Marcus, former president of children's book publishing and distribution at Random House, was named Strategic Advisor. Ms. Marcus merely was the person who oversaw U.S. publication of the first six books written by some British woman -- the one about a boy wizard -- anyone recall the title?!

"Children's book publishing has always been strong," said the article, adding it has gained significance in recent years due to the strength of backlists. Hardcover sales are up. The story struck me, because when writers get together, there is concerned discussion about people not reading; about whether work is literary or commercial, where is the line and how much is on what side of the line; what will the electronic book do to print sales; how many titles are out there and how hard it is to be found among the masses; literacy among children and the power of the computer to draw them away from books. All worthy topics. Yet I have gone back to this story day after day, ripped from my newspaper, because it signals a rising tide.

As we all know, no company puts that kind of effort into a strategy unless they're confident it will generate money. In this case, money from books you can weigh in your hand, flip pages, smell the paper and ink. Money from new readers, repeat readers, readers who believe in storytelling that feeds and fires the imagination in a way only a book can deliver. In this case, we are talking about young readers, who will go through those hit titles Mr. Weisberg and Ms. Marcus will find, support and market, and want more the next month, the next year, into their teens and on into hood.

Children who know books love books; children who love books want good books. If there is a good book at hand, they will actually choose to read, even if there is a computer in the house. I promise you this. Maybe they don't spend every spare moment with noses in books, but a good book will be read, its sequel requested, books like it researched, the author followed even if he or she switches genres.

Like us, to be truthful, children have limited reading time, which creates a challenge. They want something worth their investment: a good story, told well. Like us, too, they want something different each time, not the same plots over and over. Soemthing that fits their moods, their interests, their views of the world, their dreams. (As a side note, check out 1001 Books for Every Mood by Hallie Ephron if you're stuck for some good titles, for grown-ups and children.)

This means only good things for writers, no matter whether we write children's or YA or literary or commercial or something in-between. The book is not , it was riding a receding tide and now is making a resurgence. The next generation has found, through comparison, that no matter how interactive and cool the graphics are on a wide screen, a book delivers a unique experience, and a good book delivers one that is unparalleled. So never fear, you there in front of your computer, with your typewriter, keyboard or notebook at hand -- your audience awaits.

My Extraordinary New Cover!

By Amy MacKinnon

A dream come true thanks to designer Whitney Cookman. He created this without seeing my web site and they are shockingly in sync.

Extras

Posted by Lisa Marnell

For those of us who work in the schools, the next few weeks are BUSY! As a driven writer, I am determined to prevent end of the year time pressures from interfering with my writing. I am going to be surgical with time management. To do so, I will eliminate EXTRAS, such as the following:


1- No EXTRA Characters: Why spend hours writing a scene about a character when the character is not likely to survive a second draft.

I vow to ask myself if a character, any character, moves the plot forward. If he or she doesn’t, it’s curtains!


2- No EXTRA Words: What takes longer to type: “The situation was nearing the point where they’d have to come out soon.” Or “It was over!”

I vow to become an “It was over!” kind of writer. (Example borrowed from “The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by Evan Marshall)


3- No EXTRA Web-Surfing: NO! NO! NO!

I vow to pick one web sight I’ll allow myself to visit, once a day, prior to writing, not because of boredom or ADD, but as a venue for inspiration.


4- No EXTRA e-mails to friends: No poems to Amy and Hannah and Lynne (is that a relief?) No joking e-mails to my friend Kim in Marshfield either.

I vow to be business like and efficient in online communications.


5- No EXTRA subplots. I do this extra subplot thing. An idea comes to me and I go with it, only to nix it later.

I vow to stick to my outlined plot and finish Rose’s story with no added bells and whistles.

Making a Literary Life Friday: Wandering the Web

A reader wrote to us asking what were some of the better web sites to enrich a writer's life. Too many was the initial response. If any of you are Slate readers, then you know what a time-sucker the Internet can be to a writer. Still, there are riches to be found.

Below, we've shared some of our favorites, but we'd like to hear about yours. What web sites inform your writing?

Lisa Marnell
Verlakay! A beautiful interactive website developed and maintained by author Verla Kay. It's a hang-out for writers and wannabe writers of children's fiction. There's even a thread for those of us attending LA's summer SCBWI (Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) conference - see you there? Couldn't live without you, Verla.

Lois Lowry - I love her. Discomermaids (Jay Asher's blog).

Amy MacKinnon
Where to start? I read a lot of sites because I'm naturally curious, some for pure entertainment, but to further my career as a writer...Let's start with the industry standard, Publishers Weekly. Booksellers, sales reps, agents, and editors all read it. You should too. In fact, it was an article in last week's edition that pointed me to my next new favorite site, Books on the Nightstand. It was started by two publishing insiders who wanted to share good reads. They do that via columns and podcasts. Very savvy of them to mix up the media. So you can clean off your desk while you listen. They even take their show on the road and recommend books to eager readers. Clever. And one of my absolute favorites web sites is American Fiction. Who is Mark Athitakis and where did he find his voice? He has his ear pressed to the inner circle of the loop and shares it all with us. How he consistently culls the finest articles, interviews, news from the world wide web is beyond me. I'm just glad he does it.

Hope you come back on Tuesday because I have the most magnificent news to share! I'm bursting to tell you, but I must wait my turn! If you're really curious, like I am in life, I've embedded a clue in my post.

Hannah Roveto
Good ones, all. What else? I do love reading the inside view from agents' perspectives. There's Nathan Bransford and Kristin Nelson's PubRants, whom I love to visit now and again. I do miss Miss Snark, but you can find oldies but goodies still out there floating around!

Lynne Griffin
I echo Amy's choices for must reads. I would also add Publishers Marketplace, which though it does require a monthly subscription fee is critical to learning which agents represent the types of fiction or non you write. I also like it because it keeps you up-to-date on what authors are selling, trends, etc... Another insider site I love is Mediabistro's Galleycat. It's casual tone shouldn't fool you, the info gives you a valuable glimpse inside the business. And finally, I am a big Poets & Writers fan. It has everything the magazine does and more. Extended interviews, web only articles and an amazing archives, I can spend hours here.

And don't forget to peruse our friends of our blog link list to the right. Many of these sites offer generous amounts of content. Happy reading.

Rhythm and Writing

Posted by Lynne Griffin

Just for a bit of inspiration, I dipped into Joyce Carol Oates, The Faith of a Writer. Battling a cold, I'd taken to my bed with her book, the novel I'm rereading--A Separate Peace--and a new book of writing exercises called, Naming the World, edited by Bret Anthony Johnston.

In an essay on inspiration, Oates quotes Virginia Woolf. She'd written about the connection between style and rhythm in one of her many letters, analyzing the complexities of the writer's life. I took pause when I read the following:

A sight, an emotion, creates this wave in the mind, long before it makes words to fit it; and in writing...one has to recapture this, and set this working and then, as it breaks and tumbles in the mind, it makes words to fit in.

I really connected to this passage, in love with thinking about inspiration as a wave. Ripples, seas, and swells are waves of varying intensity. The process of writing, for me, begins with feeling some kind of disturbance--whether it's taking notice of some sensory detail or acknowledging a feeling--which leads to a transfer of energy in space and time. This breaking and tumbling that Woolf refers to, begs to be captured in words and phrases, sentences and paragraphs.

Moving on to Bret Anthony Johnston's, Naming the World, I noticed an essay by Paul Lisicky called, All about Rhythm. I turned to page 286, and it began with the same Woolf quote highlighted above. Don't you love when the Muse hits you on the head, urging you to learn something new about writing? The same quote placed before me in a matter of an hour, sent me on a quest to find out more about waves.

Waves are born when wind meets water. Speed and distance and time are the variables that influence formation of what's called a fetch. I'll make the leap and say I believe rhythm in writing is formed with the right combination of pace, and psychic distance (how close or far the writing is to the reader) and word combinations. In Lisicky's essay, he says the master of rhythm is the poet. He asserts that if a writer is to find the rhythm--the break and tumble of waves brought forth on the page--one needs to be:

...more deeply aware of pauses, sentence length, stops, even alliteration and assonance in the prose...open ourselves up to our own rhythms--the patterns of our everyday speech, the quirkiness of the way we move and walk--and carry those over to the lives of our invention.

So today, as I delve into writing my work-in-progress, I'm going to be thinking about waves. The way they spill and roll, plunge and dump water on sand. Here's hoping I'll find my rhythm, a surging type of wave; one that will knock my readers over and drag them deeper into my story.

Maybe You're Just Molting

by Hannah Roveto

I might be identifying too closely with my son's hermit crabs. Why I shouldn't is clear: they are very low on the evolutionary scale, although I feel that way at times. They are scary looking; first thing in the morning I might come close to their appearance. Like today, for example, when I was woken up at 5:30 because one of the crabs was in the water dish naked.

The initial concern was that it was dead. No, quite the reverse. The crabs are molting. They've been sloughing off their exoskeletons, hiding for days down in the gravel with only their painted shells peeking up into the light. (Smaller Dean had Spiderman on his back, Crabby a more mature and elegant metallic green.)

During this time they peel themselves out and are at their most vulnerable. Thanks to Crabby's foray into the (empty) water dish to refresh himself with water held in the sponge, we now know their back ends look like oversized grubs with small claw-like legs sticking out, the better to hold onto their shells once they get back inside. Ugh. Their front ends look like miniature crabs, yes, but without those formidable and surprisingly strong pincers we have all come to respect. Our cat stared past the chicken wire screen longingly, inches away from a tender, defenseless treat. Why do the crabs put themselves at such risk? Simple: they will die if they don't.

I was going to blog today about why some writers take so darn long to become writers. I read something recently in which an author noted she came to the art of writing as an adult. In interviews for this blog's Author Spotlight series, Hallie Ephron said she took on fiction once her children were grown and she became unafraid of what her creative family might think of her efforts. Mameve Medwed said she was a short story writer until a good friend told her to write a novel; she said she was petrified, went at it "kicking and screaming."

Jonathan Franzen, speaking at Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace, said he believes many great writers are women who come to it later in life, or at least, not straight out of college or grad school. He said women have other things in their lives that demand attention; once women start to focus more on themselves than on the external in their lives, they find their writers' voices. I think this is true -- and applies to some men, too.

Some writers need time, whether it is to experience enough to generate a full story, or to overcome the terror of putting ourselves out there. The transformation does not take place overnight; it takes time, agonizing months and years. We know what we are about to do, and that knowledge alone could stop us in our tracks. But it doesn't. Maybe we don't really have a choice. So we pick at our old selves, get uncomfortable with the shell we have wrapped around our soft cores. We burrow and peel that shell off, a dangerous, delicate operation. We develop the courage to walk around exposed, if need be, as we form a new way to present ourselves to the world: a bigger, stronger, better us. Molting is important to humans, but perhaps it is required of writers -- at any stage. It's scary and exciting and dangerous and essential to our beings.

(Update: Dean seems to be back in his original shell, although burrowing again, and Crabby is out of the water dish and checking out an upgrade to a larger soccer-motif number. The cat is sleeping in another room.)

The Evolution of a Page

By Amy MacKinnon

I think it was our second meeting when I submitted twenty pages of my manuscript, then tentatively title TETHERED, to my writers' group. This is Hannah's feedback from that night. I was wreck showing it to them, but see how kind her notes are -- and they weren't overwhelming either.

This second page is what I submitted to Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace two years ago. I signed up with Little, Brown editor Asya Muchnick. Beforehand, she read 20 page of my manuscript, making careful notes on each. It was waiting in line for my critique when I met Gail Konop Baker; what a blessing that's been. Asya gave my manuscript a careful, thoughtful edit. I floated out of there.

Now this third page is probably the most marked-up of the bunch. That handwriting belongs to my editor Sally Kim. After sending me a two page editorial letter with an overall structural critique (what needs tweaking, what doesn't work, what needs more depth), she then did a careful line edit of the manuscript. Now don't let anyone tell you editors don't edit anymore. Here's physical proof they do and do it beautifully.


And then the lovely, lovely copy edits. Now when it's your turn to open that huge bubble-lined manilla envelope and pull out your manuscript, you'll be tickled to see a key with all of your characters' names, every major business, each setting. It's quite a kick. It might also intimidate you a bit to know a professional grammarian has laid eyes on your words. Not to worry, s/he is on your side to make your book the best it can be. There will be a lot of marks. It might scare the bejesus out of you so much, you close the envelope back up again -- for a few days. I'm not saying I did this, but I might have. Once you plunge in, though, you find it's not nearly as humiliating as you feared. In fact, I asked my bestest friend Heather Grant Murray, also a copy editor, to go over it as I did. I love copy editors.





Then the best part happens. Your first pass pages arrive. For the first time since you sat down at your desk all those years ago, you see how your words will appear on the page. Isn't it magnificent? Lynn Amft designed the interior layout and she is brilliant. The very first design I was shown, I loved. She captured the tone perfectly.


Looks like quite a bit of work by many hands, doesn't it? But imagine, that's just one page...

Meeting Rose

Posted by Lisa Marnell

Last week, I shared my story in pictures with you. In order to help me visualize the New Hampshire setting where my novel takes place, I googled images of snow and mountains, ski hills and dilapidated houses. I printed the photos and taped them to the wall in my study. Now when I write, I tell my family I'm going to New Hampshire. They understand - thanks for the idea, Lynne!

I started writing this YA novel almost two years ago. It started from a seed, a snippet in time that happened years ago. I was twelve. It was a rainy New Hampshire day, and we wouldn't be water skiing on Lake Winnepasaukee that afternoon. My dad dropped us, my sister, brother, and neighbors, Cathy and Scott at a local bowling alley. He gave us money for lanes and shoes, snacks and drinks, and promised he'd be back in a couple hours to pick us up. It was the stringy-haired girl at the bowling alley that I remember; she's the detail that had an impact on me that day.

She had no money. No one bought her snacks. Her dad was young - late twenties maybe? - and the woman he was with wasn't her mom. Her mom would have commented on her bowling, or at least nagged her to tie back her stringy black hair. That girl was as interested in me as I was in her. The moment that is branded in my mind is the way way she stared as I sipped Coke from the cup my brother delivered to me. No one bought that girl a Coke. And I used two straws!

The protagonist in my work in progress is Rose, the name I gave that girl in the bowling alley. I wrote a full first draft of this novel last year and shared it with our writers' group. They complimented my setting, my use of language in places, but the story, the entire story wasn't working. I scrapped it, for the most part, and started again. Part of the problem was that Rose's story wasn't her own. The bigger problem was that I didn't know Rose. Who was Rose?

I used character sheets at the start of this novel. You know, the lists of a character's physical traits, habits, history, secret longings. They helped, to some extent, but creating a character is not the same as meeting one. It took time to get to know Rose. At this point in this novel, I know her, better. I could fill out a character sheet now for her and have answers for most of the questions.

Now, I'm close to completing a new first draft. The story is RADICALLY different than it was. In keeping with my strategy of using pictures to help me immerse myself in my fiction, I found Rose's picture - another google search. Meet my Rose. She's smart, and kind, sad and frustrated. She's lovely, really, and has a story to tell.